Puritans And Anne Bradstreet's Upon The Burning Of Our House

Puritanism was a major belief during the 1500s-1700s, Puritans believed that you are required to devote your whole life to the Lord. In order to be a Puritan you had to glorify God by attending church, report sinners, and show God’s grace through your own actions. In

The Puritans were a religious group in the New England colonies who wanted to purify the Church of England. The Puritans centered everything on God, even their judicial system. They had a theocratic system, which means they thought God had the overall authority. Their laws, court system, and punishments were all based on the Bible. The puritan era judicial system was a theocratic, unjust, and harsh system that enforced absurd laws; they practiced an unfair way of prosecution, and gave cruel punishments to the peccant.

Puritans traditionally held strong views on their religious beliefs and the concept of weaned affections was an especially vital tenet of Puritanism. The doctrine of weaned affections essentially states that Puritans must relinquish their ties to earthly possessions in favor of maintaining spirituality as a priority. Although Puritans learned from infancy about “the importance of renouncing earthly nourishment and affection in favor of ‘spiritual milk’”, (“Weaned Affections”) many Puritans may still have had a difficult time with mastering this spiritual ideal. In “Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666,” Bradstreet depicts how the loss of her home is initially challenging for her to endure through her reminiscing of how she will miss her physical possessions and how her home enabled her to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother. Although this can be viewed as an immensely human response to such a devastating loss, Bradstreet is quick to remind herself, and readers, that the home and its contents truly only belonged to God and that she would do better to consider God’s kingdom over the rubble of her old home on Earth. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem “Verses on the Burning of our House,” the speaker discusses her attempt to reconcile the loss of her earthly possessions with religious tenets and, in doing so, highlights the struggle of Puritans to maintain the religious ideal of valuing only spiritual worth, as depicted through the concept of weaned affections.

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

Puritans live in a life with a life of rules. They live by religious beliefs and literature purposes. The puritans believed in God being all powerful, Bible is God’s true law, success is a sign of improvement, and how education was written to glorify God and for education only not for entertainment.

Puritan literature captures not only their beliefs as a religion, but their beliefs as individuals. All Puritan literature is utilitarian, meaning it is useful, purposeful, and reflecting a non-ornate style of writing. One of the most prominent of early English poets was Anne Bradstreet. Her poems reflect the utilitarian style, but do so in a way that is entirely unique to herself and her emotions. Anne Bradstreet opens the bridge between her faith and her personal experiences in her poetry. In her poems “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “In Reference to Her Children” she reflects utilitarianism by recounting the conflicts between her love of her worldly things and her devotion to God’s eternity.

A Puritan defined is “a member of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship.” Puritan society in America depended on the belief that all members were working for the glory of God. The Puritans did not allow deviations from the strict code of behavior which would not allow any member to have individuality. They restricted any type of entertainment, except that which was endorsed by the church. They worked and worshipped.

Puritans are colonists who had left England seeking religious tolerance. The life of the Puritans was mainly influenced by Christian beliefs and the church. Their laws were harsh and every Puritan needed to follow a moral code. Anyone or anything that went against the code was punished because going against the code was considered as a sin. According to Religious Aspects, “The Puritans also believed strongly in the wrath of God and did everything they could to prevent themselves from receiving it. This is why the witch scare was taken so seriously and the accused were punished harshly. The first

The first difference which is the most obvious would be the style of each respected poet. Every poet has a unique style, but generally those who belong to the same period or set of ideas have similar styles. Between Bradstreet and Taylor there are no similarities in style. Taylor can be considered a much more polished poet. Taylor’s poetry is full of poetic techniques and advanced styling tools such as the iambic meter and advanced rhyming schemes. This style can be seen as the norm for a highly educated preacher which Taylor was. Bradstreet on the other hand has a more simplistic style that can be seen as the voice of the common or average Puritan. Therefore, there is far less ornamentation in her poetry. If one compares the Bradstreet’s “Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666.” and Taylor’s “ From God’s Determinations.” One can see the difference in syntax clearly. Bradstreet uses simple diction while tackling the topic of her burning house. She uses simple and

The Puritans were a group of people with strong beliefs, ideas and values in the 1630’s to the 1660’s. Their ideas influenced society in multiple ways during this time including politically, economically, and socially. Politically, they believed in having a theocratic government , economically, they used the value of hard work to run the economy and stimulate prosperity and also, socially the influence of the religion and the need for a tight knit communtiy influenced New England in many more ways than one. All of these influences were part of the ideological belief of the Puritans to attain a “City Upon a Hill” society where they would have the perfect community and established ethos for other communities to later follow in their footsteps.

The 17th century Puritans were known to represent a religious group migrating from England to America in order to practice religious freedom. These groups were determined to “purify” churches of England from Catholic practices. Puritans are known for their religious, social, and political influences on early America. Edmund S. Morgan’s novel The Puritan Family highlights a part of history that many would tend to look over upon- that is, the complex structural life of Puritan Families in the 17th century.

The Puritans, a group of people trying to emigrate from the British, came into America to start a new life set apart from their experiences in a monarchical society. Their intentions were to purify the churches of England from their Catholic ethnicity. They are a sect who worship the Bible and presume all other Puritans discern their Ten Commandments. They are one of the first groups to inhabit America coming after the Native Americans.

The Puritan way of life completely centered around the Bible, and they believed in God's supreme authority over everything as conveyed in the scriptures. They believed that whatever happened to them, good or bad, was God’s will. The Puritans’ faith and religious beliefs made it possible for them to endure and survive the hardships they faced in life. “Puritanism was not only a religious creed, it was a philosophy and metaphysic; it was an organization of man's whole life, emotional and

The puritans believed in the doctrine of a “calling” to do God’s work on Earth. One could only be a part of the church clergy if they had experienced a conversion and followed the doctrine of the “calling”. However, Puritans were not tolerant to others that did not share the same religion or beliefs as them.

The first major difference between these two writers is the major difference in their writing styles. Though both are undoubtedly Puritan in style they hold many differences in how they write, and what they write about. Anne Bradstreet’s writing is seen as rather basic in it’s composition and rhyme scheme. The writing is in stanzas, much like other poetry, and the rhyme is a very basic A-A B-B scheme, in “To My Dear and Loving Husband” she writes, “If ever two were one, then surely we./If ever man loved her wife, then thee;” ( lines 1-2) these opening lines illustrate the simplicity in her writing. Contrast this to the opening lines of “Sinners in the Hands of an